Bremen and Bremerhaven are located in the north-western part of Germany, close to Hamburg. Together they form the smallest of the 16 German federal states, with a population of more than 650,000 and a historically-grown feeling of independence which may well be founded in Bremen’s role as one of the leading Hanseatic Cities.

Higher Education, in various shapes and institutions, has had a long tradition in Bremen, while the University of Bremen was founded as an innovative and future-oriented institution only in 1971. It is a modern university with a lively student population of close to 19,000 in 2009, two thirds of which choosing to come to Bremen from all over Germany and, in fact, the world. With more than 10 percent of Bremen’s students coming from abroad, the university lives up to its vision of being a truly international place for young people and scientists to study and develop.

Over the last four decades, the University of Bremen has realised its founding objectives to the full. The ground-breaking “Bremer Modell” from the founding days has been instrumental in helping the university to become a shining sample and leading champion of modern university education in Germany and its basic features: “…for example interdisciplinary study and research, research-based teaching projects, orientation to practice, and responsibility towards society. These have since [the beginning days] been augmented by new aims like internationalisation, opportunities for junior scientists and scholars in structured post-graduate programmes, gender equality, and an added sense of purpose as a ‘learning institution’”. This is how the university describes itself on its homepage, which we invite you to visit should you wish to find out more.

A wide array of subjects ranging from natural and engineering sciences to social sciences and humanities are not only attracting great numbers of highly motivated and competent students, but have also proven to be taught at the highest standards possible. These standards have attracted numerous partners, such as research institutes and high-tech companies, to closely co-operate with the university and adding to its success and breadth of opportunities. Hundreds of those partners are located on the university’s spacious campus or in the famous adjacent Technology Park. The University of Bremen has earned itself a high reputation, both in research and teaching, and in a recent campaign for excellence (Exzellenz Initiative) run by the German government was ranked among the country’s top ten universities, obtaining a number of new state-funded research assignments and teaching opportunities. Both, research and study options “made in Bremen” are the grounds for Bremen’s ever-growing reputation in the academic world, and indeed in the professional world, too. Students studying in Bremen experience sound traditional teaching combined with new-media-didactics (Bremen has been early in investigating and integrating E-Learning opportunities into its syllabusses) and are enjoying a university education that is

modern & innovative

practice-oriented

scientifically sound and state of the art

international-minded (hundreds of ongoing international partnerships)

comprehensive, with General Studies being part of the syllabus

As a logical consequence, international experience and the chance for students to apply what they have learned in “real life” have become an integral part of the University of Bremen’s study programmes. To combine both elements, i.e. to find an opportunity to do practical training in an international context, has developed into one of the most significant non-classroom activities that Bremen’s students strive to accomplish. The university’s approach and objective is clearly to support and encourage students to pursue this aim very seriously indeed. As a potential employer for an intern from Bremen, you can be confident to meet students of the highest calibre and motivation, who have been well prepared to not only gain from, but also to contribute to the work and global atmosphere of the company that offers to them a practical training opportunity.